Campus News

Promoting UB’s ‘Industry 4.0’ expertise worldwide

SMART Director Kemper Lewis talks about the Digital
Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, a 10-course
MOOC designed by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
that explores how digital advances are changing the landscape and
capabilities of factories.

By TRACY PUCKETT

Ari Cohen’s role as director of business and trade
development for the Israel Economic Mission in Chicago is a natural
fit for his background. With a bachelor’s degree in
international relations and master’s degree in microbiology,
he introduces expansion-seeking Israeli life sciences startups to
American businesses and helps them navigate the legal
landscape.

Cohen was less than thrilled when his matchmaking duties were
broadened to assist manufacturing-related suppliers.

“I was a little out of my comfort zone,” he admits.

Cohen knew that having a grasp on the advanced manufacturing
sector — and where it is heading — was paramount to
sparking any meaningful conversations with Israeli clients and
their potential American partners. He found the antidote to his
unease in a “101”-level series of massive open online
courses, aka MOOCs, that explore manufacturing’s shift to a
fourth industrial revolution — often called “Industry
4.0” — that uses data to make factories more efficient
and competitive.

Cohen’s learning vehicle is the Digital
Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, a 10-course
bundle created by UB. It is backed by funding from the
Chicago-based Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute
(DMDII), part of the Manufacturing USA network of public-private
institutes developing manufacturing technologies and workforce
solutions.

The specialization, developed through the UB School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is one of the largest
available on the Coursera platform. The online educational company
serves 25 million registered users with courses from 50 of the
world’s top universities and educational institutions.

As of mid-September, there were just over 8,000 total
enrollments across the specialization, representing learners from
80 countries. The first three courses debuted in January, with
subsequent courses released one per month. The final course went
live in August.

“Broadening education by making it available to people all
over the world is a powerful concept,” says SEAS Dean Liesl
Folks. “It really can’t be overemphasized what this can
mean for helping people to manage their careers in a modern
economy.”

Creating MOOCs

UB entered the land of MOOCs in 2013 when Coursera and SUNY
agreed to a system-wide contract giving all 64 campuses access to
the delivery platform. Several SUNY campuses have since contributed
to the platform; Career Services was the first UB unit to do so
with “How to Write a Resume” in March 2016.

UB seized the opportunity to widen its Coursera presence when
DMDII released a project call to support its workforce development
strategy of training and educating the current and future workforce
in digital manufacturing and design applications. UB is a Tier 1
academic member of DMDII, a public-private partnership aimed at
transforming American manufacturing through the digitization of the
supply chain.

“Recognizing it’s a broad technology space, the
potential impact [of digital manufacturing and design] can’t
be summed up in a single hour or a single article,” says
Michael Fornasiero, program manager of workforce development at
DMDII. “It really takes effort to dive into the content and
introduce the topics. We see this specialization as a way of
getting someone up to speed very, very quickly, and establishing
their understanding of the breadth of technologies and their
interactions in this space.”

The university’s submission was led by UB’s Center
for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE) — the business outreach
arm of SEAS — with support from UB’s SMART (Sustainable
Manufacturing and Advanced Robotic Technologies) Community of
Excellence.

DMDII and its parent organization UI LABS chose the proposal,
leading to a U.S. Department of Defense grant of $380,000.

Course creation spanned one year under the direction of
TCIE’s project management team. Expertise from engineering
faculty, as well as partners Accu-Solve and Siemens PLM, was
leveraged. Feedback from local and national industry partners was
solicited. Extensive production and editing were provided by
UB’s Center for Educational Innovation and Full Circle
Studios.

The result? Forty hours of video instruction, complemented by
reading materials, assessments and peer interaction opportunities.
Topics range from the digital thread and the internet of things to
big data and cyber security.

Successfully completion of the whole series earns a Digital
Manufacturing and Design Technology certificate.

Industry buy-in essential

“The approach that UB took was very efficient for both
curriculum development and feedback,” Fornasiero says.
“It was not completely dictated by an academic institution;
they have done the work to make sure the content was resonating
well” with industry.

James van Oss, aerospace and defense product lifecycle
management strategist and architect for Moog’s Space &
Defense Group and its Aircraft Group, was among the industry
representatives tapped for their feedback. He called the
development process a “cutting-edge experience.”

“It’s an interesting area. It’s the thing that
companies will be focusing on as the near future unfolds,”
van Oss says. “More and more companies are thinking about how
to create a digital thread … many are in transition from a
drawing-based paradigm to this more modern-based
paradigm.”

English notes Industry 4.0 is already here.

“We deal with it every day as we listen to music and take
pictures with our ever-present phones and share information via
social media,” he says. “Large organizations have
already made the shift, and in the end smaller organizations are
going to need to shift as well, whether required to as a condition
of a contract or by realizing the competitive advantage they can
gain.”

Folks agrees, viewing the courses as a springboard for small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) to keep pace with opportunities. Before
joining UB as engineering dean, she worked in large corporations
where scientists armed with knowledge and data were just a phone
call away. Now as a university leader, her relation-building
initiatives with SMEs have fully exposed her to the struggles of
staying current with a much smaller budget.

“I hope that courses like these, and the DMDII itself,
will bring to SMEs the kind of intellectual resources that large
corporations have had in their research divisions traditionally
— the forward thinking, forward planning and strategic
analysis,” Folks says.

New opportunities

The specialization is opening UB SEAS to new audiences, and
allowing it to move beyond the traditional university model of
solely degree programs to one that encompasses certificates.

“As the economy shifts more rapidly, people need access to
training on an ongoing basis, to allow them to stay current and
competitive,” Folks says.

SMART Director Kemper Lewis envisioned the transformational
potential of the courses not only for UB, but the entire field.

“Everything I’ve heard — wherever I go —
only confirms that,” says Lewis, principal investigator of
the project, as well as professor and chair of the MAE.

Through speaking engagements across the country, he receives
positive feedback from both academic and industry sectors. The
courses are catching the attention of different groups, catalyzing
conversations and developing relationships:

Lewis recently addressed the SUNY Research Council, which
influences strategic and operational planning at SUNY and the SUNY
Research Foundation. Council members acknowledged UB’s
leadership in digital manufacturing and design, and indicated state
investment is integral to expanding the impact.

A binational nonprofit organization and technical college in
Querétaro, Mexico, contacted TCIE to guide development of
similar Industry 4.0 courses targeted for manufacturing company
employees and university students. News of the relationship
traveled across the country, reaching a coalition of companies and
a technical university in Durango. The group has approached TCIE
for assistance in establishing a training center for manufacturing
courses.

The principal of MOT Charter High School in Delaware has
contacted UB SEAS about developing a for-credit course.

“When you think of the thought leaders in digital
manufacturing, hopefully UB is the top tier of institutions that
come to mind,” Lewis says. “Some of that national
recognition is definitely happening.”